


Yellow Sky

by Aoyagi



Series: Elemental [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: BAMF Tifa, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, M/M, No beta we die like Sephiroth, Possible Remake spoilers, Tifa POV, Zack Fair Lives, bamf cloud, but we already knew that, canon adjacent, handwavey medical science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 08:07:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23847931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoyagi/pseuds/Aoyagi
Summary: My self-indulgent take on Zack survives!feat. competent Cloud, the real Tifa Lockhart standing up, and the general populace of Sector 7 slums.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Series: Elemental [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1736875
Comments: 85
Kudos: 436





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ========  
> Oh my goodness, thank you for indulging me! I was not expecting the level of response this fic has gotten. I'm 150% aware of the flaws, but this is also quite literally the first time I've written fiction in a decade - I just needed to get the idea off my chest, regardless of skill.
> 
> I am planning on continuing, but it's going to be a separate fic, which I'll get started in the next few days. I love you guys! 🐥🦔
> 
> =========
> 
>  _At the broken heart of the city  
>  Where the hollow light of day never reaches in  
> A man can break down and fall into pieces_  
> \-- "Sunday Morning Yellow Sky" by October Project

Tifa is in the process of closing up the bar when one of the Neighborhood Watch guys comes in, half frantic and half apologetic. He says Wymer has a "situation" and asked for a little back-up, Tifa being one of the better fighters in Sector 7.

She follows him to Beginners Hall, to one of the upstairs rooms, where there's a good crowd of Watch members loosely gathered around the open door. The man who fetched her shouts to Wymer and the crowd parts to let her through.

"What's going on here?" she asks, "This is most of your people and you still need me?"

Wymer guides her into the room, which is half filled with boxes. The clear half contains a bed, and in that bed is a man, with dark hair and a lot of bandages.

"We found these two collapsed near the train station. Your guess is as good as mine as to how they even made it that far - from the looks of it they came from outside the city and, well." He gestures, and Tifa notices a second, light-haired man slumped in a chair next to the bed. "Considering one of them is full of holes and the other isn't even lucid. But they were both dressed in ShinRa uniforms and they had this big honker of a sword that took two guys to even lift..." Wymer directs her attention to the veritable slab of steel propped on the wall opposite the bed, "I figured we'd need all the muscle we could get, if they cause trouble." Tifa's heart has just about stopped. She hadn't really registered their faces, but she definitely remembers that sword.

"Oh, holy," she breathes, spinning back to the man in the bed. He is shaggier than the last time she saw him, and haggard even under all the bandages covering his head, but he is still clearly, "Zack Fair. SOLDIER First Class." 

A murmur of unease ripples throughout the room. Wymer swears. "Now I'm doubly glad you're here. You know the other guy, too?" The blond was slumped, so Wymer reaches down to tilt his head up. This time it takes a moment longer to sort through the differences that time had wrought. When it clicks, Tifa brings her hand to her mouth in shock.

"Cloud!?"


	2. Chapter 2

Truth be told, Tifa hadn't given much thought to Cloud Strife over the past five years. She certainly missed her friend for a while, and they'd written each other for the first few months, until it seemed his training had gotten more intense (or he'd been successfully distracted by the big city) and the letters eventually tapered off. Considering he had joined an army, she just hoped that Cloud's mother would say if something happened to him. Otherwise, Tifa had continued her life as normal. Cloud certainly wasn't the first or last kid to leave Nibelheim with high hopes and never come back.

Then Sephiroth happened, and at most Tifa just thought, _At least Cloud wasn't here to see it, too._

* * *

"So you do know them both." Wymer releases Cloud's head. Cloud lolls a bit but stays upright this time.

"Sort of," Tifa says, bending to get a better look at Cloud's face. He seems to have trouble focusing, eyes roving from Tifa to Zack on the bed to the sword and Wymer, then returning to Zack. It reminds her of Marco, her neighbor. "Cloud?" she tries again, lightly touching his shoulder. "Hey, it's Tifa. Do you remember me?" 

"T... Ta...Tifa..." Cloud's gaze stops on her and his brow furrows, clearly struggling to form words. Even more like Marco.

Wymer clears the room. Tifa explains to Wymer that Cloud is from her hometown; he left to join SOLDIER about seven years ago and she hasn't seen him since. "Looks like he got in," she adds, considering Cloud's uniform and eerie gleam of his eyes.

As for Zack, she remembers the heat, remembers screaming at him over the body of her father. Remembers Zangan telling her that he and that nameless trooper had taken down Sephiroth but had both been killed in the process. She certainly hasn't seen any mention of Zack Fair in the news since the fire, though ShinRa SOLDIERs do come up in fluff rags at least a couple of times a year, and he'd been pretty popular before then.

"Zack is just about the only SOLDIER that I would even halfway trust."

As far as the local medic can tell, Zack will live, but just barely. He has gunshot wounds and burns all over his body, damage to several internal organs, and a deep bullet graze on his scalp that is the primary cause for his current coma.

"Any un-enhanced person would have been dead a dozen times over." Tifa can't tell if the medic is praising or complaining about her patient.

Cloud, on the other hand, is physically healthy, but fighting heavy mako poisoning. He seems to be winning, albeit slowly. Like Zack, though, the medic insists that any other person would be extremely dead by now.

Either way, neither man can go anywhere, any time soon.


	3. Chapter 3

A week later, and the medic has thrown her hands up in surrender because _what do I know, I only treat humans_.

* * *

That first night, Tifa and the medic (Bell was her name) get to wrangle Cloud out if his filthy uniform and into the shower attached to the main Hall. He is also smeared in a good amount of blood, but Bell can only assume it had come from carrying Zack for however long. They can't find any recent wounds on him, just a spatter of healed scars, some of which are definitely surgical, and one terrifyingly huge scar on his belly, with a matching scar on his back. Cloud is _very_ skinny, not an ounce of fat left in reserve, but his thin muscles are also deceptively strong. "As you do when you're a SOLDIER," Bell shrugs when Cloud accidentally crushes his metal chair-back with bare hands.

Once clean and swimming in a borrowed set of too-big clothes, though, he looks positively childlike. Tifa wants to take a picture. "He _almost_ looks like that kid who left home," she sighs, "only cuter."

Someone has left a pile of blankets in Cloud's chair when they get back, so Tifa puts together a pallet on the floor while Bell goes to check on Zack. "The bullet here didn't crack his skull, thankfully," Bell talks while she works, "but it did cause a nasty concussion that's putting pressure on his brain. Plus the internal injuries, loss of blood, and for such a big dude I think he's even more malnourished than Cloud. It's a miracle he's even alive."

"Miracle of mako, you mean."

"Yeah, probably." Bell agrees. "Rest and calories should stabilize him enough to try a Cure on him tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning comes too soon, considering Tifa's late night, but she still manages to drag herself out of bed, down to 7th Heaven to get coffee and a plate of eggs and chips, then pack up a second plate for Cloud. After a moment's consideration, she also adds a container of soup with the solids strained out.

At Beginners Hall, Tifa pauses at Wymer's station out front, where he is already set up with a list of hunts and looking stupidly chipper for too-early A.M. The jerk didn't even have a cup of coffee.

Pleasantries are exchanged. Wymer assures Tifa that Zack and Cloud are welcome to stay for as long as they need, and Tifa mulls over the about-face from last night. The residents of the Sector 7 slums take the concept of community seriously, and Tifa has essentially pledged for the two SOLDIERs.

Upstairs, she gives a cursory knock before letting herself in, calling, "Good morning, Cloud!" Tifa is halfway across the room before she registers that Cloud is _not_ in the pallet she had laid out for him last night. No, he is curled up in the bed with Zack, back against the wall and head pillowed on the larger man's shoulder. It's a little adorable. Even worse, she had obviously woken Cloud, because he starts to sit up and she hadn't known it was possible for his hair to get messier, but there it is. 

"I brought food," she says, brandishing her containers like a shield against cute, "eggs and chips for you, and maybe we can get some broth into your friend there."

There is a long look of concentration, then Cloud says quietly, "Morning. Tifa." And after another pause, "Chips?"

Well, that is certainly an improvement from the night before.

"Um, yeah. Home fries, basically. Eggs and chips is 7th Heaven's specialty." Tifa holds the box out to him - a covered plate, slum folk know all about _disposable_ \- and is met by another long pause. She can see his fingers twitch in his lap, Cloud's expression growing more frustrated, but his hand doesn't lift. Finally Tifa sets the box down and reaches across, with gentle tugs guiding Cloud to the foot of the bed where he could sit up. She sits down in the other side, bracketing Zack's blanket-covered feet, and holds a chunk of potato up to his mouth. Cloud's face flushes, but he slowly leans forward and takes the chunk, then sets about chewing, deliberately looking away from her face.

"Do you remember Mrs Baker's oldest son? Tim or Talin or something. He was a lot older than us, started working on the power lines that ran from the reactor down into town when we were still in maybe 5th grade. Do you remember he had an accident one day, slipped and fell down a hill and landed next to a mako spring." Cloud has finished chewing, so Tifa holds up a bit of egg for him to eat next.

"He wasn't even that badly hurt, but his foot got stuck, and he couldn't get out, so he just had to sit there next to the mako spring for hours until the search parties found him." Another chip.

"When they did find him, well. He wasn't there anymore. His eyes were open, but he didn't see, or talk. He could only eat mush because he wouldn't chew. He was alive and awake, but only technically." Several minutes of silence pass, while Tifa feeds Cloud the rest of his breakfast.

"Toma."

Tifa looks up from the plate and meets Cloud's softly glowing eyes. "Yeah, you're right. His name was Toma. And he never got better. For six years, until he died." _Until everyone died._

"You, though. You've been here for less than twelve hours and already you're actually talking to me. I know, maybe it doesn't seem like it's enough, but it's significant, and I think it means that you really will be okay again, someday." She watches his face, but something brushes her wrist and she looks down and now Cloud's fingers are curled against her hand as it rests against the plate. "See what I mean?" She grins, and his mouth twitches up in response. "Now, help me get Zack propped up so I can get this soup into him."


	4. Chapter 4

Bell shows up just as they finish the soup. Tifa is stacking the containers to take back to the bar, while Cloud is sitting at the head of the bed, Zack's head resting in his lap, one thumb smoothing his friend's jawline in tiny, stiff curls.

"Just be glad he didn't need a feeding tube," the medic says, then checks Zack's heart, blood pressure, and pupils. Satisfied, she touches the materia on her armlet and sends a wave of green light over her patient.

Once done, Bell gets to work checking Zack's bandages. There are a lot of them, but Bell chatters as she goes along, happily noting that many of the smaller wounds are already to the point where they can be left uncovered. Using Cure on a head wound can lead to permanent complications, she explains, but healing other areas will free up energy to focus on his concussion.

When she gets to his head. Cloud's hand curls a little tighter, then moves to Zack's shoulder. Bell looks up and meets his eyes briefly before turning back to the man in his lap. "Glad to see you with us, too, kid." Tifa suppresses a snort. Bell is maybe a decade older than them at most.

She flashes a pen-light in Zack's eyes again, runs gentle fingers along his scalp, and peeks under bandages where his long hair has been cut short around the bullet graze. "Looks like the swelling has gone down some already. He'd get better care at a hospital, of course, but we got the impression that you wouldn't want ShinRa's attention right now."

"No." Cloud's answer is quiet but vehement.

"Thought so. SOLDIERs are supposed to be like one-man armies, right? I'd wager it was a pretty big fight to do this to him, and there hasn't been anything on the news about a battle anywhere close to Midgar. Which leaves ShinRa attacking their own people." Cloud doesn't attempt to respond, just studies the tiny bit of unmarked skin under his hand.

Bell takes his meaning and wraps up her examination, then spends another half-hour showing Tifa and Cloud how to move Zack around and provide basic care to someone in a coma. Cloud still has trouble with fine movements, but gross motor actions seem to be okay. She reiterates that its sheer luck that Zack still has a swallow reflex. They can go ahead and feed him heavier food now, as long as it's easy to swallow. Think baby food, she says.

By the time Bell has finished her little class, it's late morning and Tifa has to leave to open the bar. "I'll come back after the lunch rush, bring you some dinner. Will you be okay?"

"We'll be fine," Cloud nods and makes a point of crawling back to lay down at his spot at Zack's side. He probably meant it as a show, but it's obvious that Cloud really will fall asleep soon.

* * *

A couple more days roll by in similar pattern. Tifa brings breakfast for Cloud and Zack. Cloud's control is improving, but he's not always able to hold small items. After Cloud eats, they work together feeding and cleaning Zack. Bell comes and checks Zack's condition. 

Through the morning, Tifa chats softly with Cloud, sharing stories of wacky customers at the bar, her neighbors and friends and life under the plate. She makes the occasional attempt to ask Cloud about his adventures after leaving home and joining SOLDIER. About how he and Zack ended up hiding from ShinRa in the slums.

Cloud makes it clear that there are a lot of questions he can't or won't answer, but on the third morning Tifa hits a jackpot when she asks how they met. Cloud actually spends a good hour combing fingers through his friend's dark hair, describing a joint mission in Modeoheim, bonding over "hick towns." Zack had apparently lost his mentor around that time, so to help cope, had turned to mentoring Cloud, who was lower rank then. 

"I don't know what happened," he finally admits. "It feels like I've been sick for...a long time. I know Zack has been taking care of me, even when we were running." His hand, still buried in Zack's hair, hasn't stopped moving the entire time.

"Well, we'll just have to ask him when he wakes up," Tifa reasons. She pulls in a deep breath, and asks something she needs to be sure of. "Do you remember that Nibelheim...that home..." She's trying, but the words don't get past her lungs.

"The fire?" he responds, "I remember. It's one of the last clear memories I do have." Her breath comes out in a rush, and Tifa is horribly grateful that she doesn't have to be the one to tell him.

That evening, Cloud insists on feeding himself, then props Zack up and tips pureed food into his friend. He only asks for help afterwards, with turning and moving Zack so he can gently wipe down the other man.

"Looks like it's my turn now," she hears, but she knows it's not for her.


	5. Chapter 5

Despite Tifa's best intentions, it's a busy day at 7th Heaven. Her second cook has called in sick, and Barret hasn't shown his face once. A pack of wererats makes trouble in the alley behind the bar. Every time she tries to get away, something else calls her attention. Before she knows it, lunch has seamlessly blended into the dinner crowd. By the time Biggs comes in, it's nearly dark, and Tifa wants to scream. And she _still_ has four orders to make.

"I will comp your meal if you make a delivery for me," she says before he even opens his mouth.

"Good evening to you, too, Tifa. I'm doing great, thanks for asking," Biggs snarks as he bellies up to the bar. "I take it you've had a rough day?"

She shakes her head. "Just busy. I should have had this to them hours ago." Tifa sets the stack of containers holding Cloud and Zack's now-cold dinner in front of him. "Beginner's Hall, second floor, corner room."

Biggs' eyebrows lift. "You mean those two SOLDIERs from last week?" At Tifa's look, he adds, "me and Wedge were on duty that night. Plus, the Watch office is like two doors down from them." Tifa sighs.

"Yes, the SOLDIERs. Ex-SOLDIERs now, I guess. Cloud's an old friend from my hometown, and Zack...I met him a few years ago. They're both good guys. Whatever happened to them, they need our help."

Biggs shrugs, but moves on. "Sure. Now do I get paid before or after this delivery?" Tifa plates an order straight off the grill, snaps a cover over it, and adds it to the pile.

"Please?" Tifa smiles, with teeth.

"Yes of course, miss, anything to help a friend in need," with a lazy two-fingered salute to his bandana, Biggs gathers the stack of meals and turns back to the door.

"Tell Cloud I'll be by after closing," she calls after him, and he just gives a thumbs-up over his shoulder in acknowledgement.

* * *

When Tifa does make it to Cloud and Zack's room that night, she's surprised to find it dark, Zack the sole occupant. "Huh. Know where your partner ran off to?" She asks the unconscious man.

This is the sixth night that the guys have been here. Bell has continued her examinations every morning, and Zack's bandages have dwindled to just the patch on his head. According to the medic, the deep furrow where the bullet glanced off his head is healing nicely, and it feels like the swelling has mostly gone down. From here, it's just a matter of waiting for his brain to decide it's safe to wake up.

Which is great, but doesn't help her find Cloud. Looking around the room, she realizes Zack's massive sword is gone, too, as well as Cloud's SOLDIER uniform. Tifa had cleaned and brought it back and left it on one of the box piles that she'd been using as a shelf. Now, in place of the uniform is Cloud's set of borrowed clothes, folded neatly, and a note that just reads _Tables downstairs._

Tifa had used the ladder coming up, so now goes down the stairs in the back, to the Weapons Shop on the first floor. Across from the shop window is a roped-off firing range and a pair of round tables that customers can use to work on their weapons.

Indeed, this is where she finds Cloud, Biggs, and Wedge. The three men are all pulled up around one of the tables, which is scattered with deconstructed rifles, knives, bracers, and other unidentifiable weapon pieces. Cloud's back is to her, and he's hunched over something in front of him, the sword leaning against the table to his right. Wedge is on his left, seated facing the stairs, and spots her as she comes over. 

"Uhh, hey Tifa," he says, grinning like he just got caught stealing pastries. "What's up?"

"I thinks that's my line. What are you guys doing with Cloud?"

"We got to talking when I made my delivery earlier," Biggs chimes in from the other side of the table. "Seems Cloud wants to try some mercenary work, so we were checking over his gear with him."

Tifa gets a better look at Cloud as she comes closer. He's not actually dressed in his SOLDIER uniform, or at least not all of it. The boots and pants are the same, but the black turtleneck has been replaced with a dark purple sleeveless shirt with a high zip collar. He has the hard leather harness laid out in front of him - one of the pauldrons has been removed, painted blue, and Cloud is in the process of attaching it to the second pauldron with some very large bolts. He does look up at her, but doesn't put down his project.

"While I am happy to help you get back on your feet, are you sure fighting is a good idea right now? And why are you modding a perfectly usable set of armor?"

"It's fine. I need to get out and see what I can do. Biggs and Wedge say they can get me a few smaller jobs to start off, for practice."

"Between the two of them, they do know pretty much every one in town," Tifa agrees, "and business is all about connections. Doesn't matter how good you are if no one knows to hire you. But would you indulge me and let someone tag along, just in case? For the first few jobs, at least?"

"Fine," he says, like a grump.

"And the armor?"

"That's kinda my fault," says Biggs. "I pointed out that the full ShinRa getup might make people nervous, and draw attention he won't want." Tifa is reminded that the first night, the SOLDIER uniform frightened people enough that they brought in more than half of the Watch, even when Zack was half dead and Cloud couldn't walk a straight line. She can't help but agree.

"So now I won't look like a SOLDIER at first glance, just a merc who makes his own gear." Cloud shows her his left arm, fitted with a bracer that does in fact look 100% homemade. "Also, I'm going to be using Zack's Buster Sword until I can afford my own, and taking the pauldron off will make it easier to get it on and off."

"That's not bad, actually," she says, "but, you guys do realize it's past midnight, right? You wanna finish this in the morning?"

Almost as one the three men turn to look out at the front entrance to the Hall, as if they'll be able to judge the hour by the moonlight, this far under the plate. There's some hasty apologies and packing up of the junk on the table, then Tifa is walking with Cloud back up the stairs to his room. He's got the sword - Buster? - propped on his shoulder one-handed; over a hundred pounds of steel seemingly no heavier than a wire prop.

Once back inside, she has to ask again, "You sure you're ready to get back into fighting?"

There's a frustrated noise from Cloud, who's changing back into his borrowed clothes. "I appreciate Wymer letting us stay here, but I need to start supporting myself and Zack. We need our own place, clothes that _fit_ ," Tifa does not point out that he looks adorable in that baggy outfit, it will not help, "we need to start paying for our own food."

"But does it have to be fighting? If you need a job, you can help out at the bar. And there's an open apartment in my building, I could talk to the landlady."

"Tifa, you have done so much for us already, I don't know if I can ever repay you." He cut off her protest, "I know you won't admit we owe you, but that's because you're a good person." Cloud stares down at Zack on the bed, so quiet and still. Tifa didn't know the SOLDIER for long before, but she does remember a man who was constantly in motion, who made friends with everyone. Quiet and still were not words that should apply to Zack Fair.

"And fighting is what I do, and I'm good at it. At least, I was before I got sick." He turns back to her, "You can come with me, if it will help, but I need to get back out there."

Tifa nods, accepting his compromise, and offering her own, "Okay. I'm still going to hire you for some mercenary-type work anyway. I'll ask around, too, to see if anyone has a job for you." One possibility springs to mind, but she'll definitely need to be sure he's in fighting shape before mentioning anything to Barret.


	6. Chapter 6

True to his word, Wedge comes through the next afternoon with a report of wererats getting into a local Item Shop. It's a surreal moment for Tifa to see Cloud step into her bar - partly because he's been in town a full week and barely left his room, but mostly it's seeing Cloud in full gear.

His dark sleeveless shirt is form-fitting, highlighting the sleek muscle of his biceps, the line of his torso down to a wide stomach guard. A single spiky pauldron caps his left shoulder, while the haft of the Buster Sword rises over the other. The sword itself is obviously made for larger men; even held at an angle to his body, the tip falls almost to Cloud's ankles. Still, he walks with no give to the weight, like the mass of steel isn't even there. It's hard to believe this is the same guy who looks small and soft in a baggy sweatshirt. Cloud isn't a large man, but seeing him today, no one would call him soft.

Tifa claps once in appreciation, "Well, Mister SOLDIER, you certainly make an impression." 

"Ex-SOLDIER. You ready to go?" Is his curt reply. He even _sounds_ different; blunt and cold. Military.

"Yes sir!" Tifa taps her heels together jokingly. She checks her arm guards and gloves, then leads the way out into the maze of the slum city.

The Item Shop in question is a few blocks over from 7th Heaven, in a row of piecemeal buildings that back up on a tangled maze of scrap metal. According to the proprietor, the mako-mutated rodents have been getting in for the last few nights, tearing through his stock and gobbling up ethers. "At this rate, I don't know if I'll be able to stay open," he moans. 

He lets Cloud back into the stockroom, where it's clear that the owner wasn't exaggerating. Crates are torn open, broken bottles and packing straw strewn across the floor. The wererats made no attempt to hide. One of the corrugated metal sheets that make up the shop's walls has been bent out at the corner, claw marks scoring the edges, and there are rat tracks leading out into the scrap heap.

"Looks like maybe four or five smaller ones," Cloud notes absently, studying the scene, "and one big one." Rather than go out the front and try to navigate around the row of buildings, Cloud takes hold of the loose sheet and pushes it further out. There's an angry shout from the store owner, but Cloud just bends until the hole is big enough to let himself through.

"I'm so sorry, sir! Cloud will definitely fix that when he's done!" Tifa scrambles to follow the merc.

"Cloud, what the heck!" She shouts as she catches up. "We're supposed to be helping that man, and you're tearing up his store!"

"He hired me to kill rats. I need to find the rats to kill them. Besides, the store was already torn up."

"There is this little thing called 'customer service.' People aren't going to hire you if you break their stuff! And they certainly won't tell their friends to hire you!" There's a stretch of silent walking while Cloud follows the tracks. Wererats may be monstrous, but they're much smaller than humans, so there are several points where he has to break off and circle around to pick up the trail again when they come back into the open.

Finally, they emerge in a wide empty lot, and find two of the rats digging at something in the far corner. Cloud spares Tifa a glance before sliding the Buster sword over his shoulder and launching himself at the creatures. Tifa is close behind.

For all their worry, Cloud has clearly not forgotten how to fight. He moves like music in motion, Tifa thinks, if music includes death metal. His style slides between slow powerful swings that shake the ground, flurries of whip-fast blows, and an occasional crack of magic; all while swinging a massive sword that's longer than he is tall.

Within seconds of their first strike, the two wererats start screaming, and suddenly there are half a dozen more beasts swarming around them, including one that is indeed _big_ \- over three times the size of its fellows. Tifa has to stop watching Cloud and start actually focusing on the fight, fists and kicks and flips and dodges, until a last blast of Fira sends the big one to a screaming death. From beginning to end, the fight had lasted less than three minutes.

In the calm afterwards, Tifa just takes a moment to breathe, and maybe reconcile memories of her 14-year-old friend with the man standing next to her.

Cloud waits for her to settle back to earth, then looks around at the pile of monsters. "I hope this was all of them. Uh. Are we expected to bring anything back?"

"Ew. No, most people around here will just take your word for it. Since they don't know _you_ , they'll have to take mine." Tifa holds up a finger, other hand on her hip, "which means, since I told the client you'd fix his wall, you actually have to do it!" Cloud grumbles something, she can't hear it and doesn't want to.

Taking a better look around Tifa realizes that they came out in the empty lot behind Scrapper's Alley, and takes the lead again back to the Item Shop. Cloud is quiet while they walk, but halfway there, asks, "How do they know you've done the job, though?"

Tifa stops and looks him in the eye, trying to be clear. "Cloud, this isn't a military assignment. If you make the 'locals' angry, you can't just leave for another job somewhere else. If you didn't kill the rats, the store would get attacked again. Then the owner would complain to the Watch, and they'll stop giving you jobs. And he'll also complain to his customers, so no independent work, either." Cloud tilts his head in acknowledgement. "And no work means you and Zack are on your own."

He nods, looking pale and maybe the tiniest bit contrite. "Right. Fine. Fixing the wall."

"To start with."

After the rats, Cloud does get offered a few more exterminating jobs, clearing out an infested factory and culling monsters in the uninhabited areas under the Sector 7 plate.

Tifa's favorite, though, is when Marlene's friend Betty asks Cloud to help find her "friends," and Mister Ex-SOLDIER ends up running around town tracking down _cats_. Who all run away from him. Tifa is trying very hard not to laugh by the time they make it back to the girl empty-handed, only to find that all of the cats have run home. Betty can't pay Cloud in gil, of course, but he gets a kiss on the cheek and Betty's promise to tell everyone how nice he is. Cloud honestly couldn't pay for better advertising.


	7. Chapter 7

There isn't much getting around it anymore. Cloud has shown himself to be a capable fighter, trustworthy, and has as much reason as any of them to hate ShinRa. Now to just bring it up with the others.

Everyone is gathered below, the dining room is empty, Cloud already came by for lunch then left with Zack's meal, and Marlene is still at school, so Tifa flips the sign to Closed and takes herself downstairs to the AVALANCHE hideout. Barret has been in here all day, poring over blueprints and plans and whatever else is involved in organizing action in a terrorist cell. Jessie, Wedge, and Biggs showed up maybe an hour ago, loitered until they could use the pinball machine elevator, then disappeared while Tifa was cleaning up the bar.

When she gets there, Jessie and Wedge are at the terminal in the corner, while Biggs and Barret are hunched together at the big table. Tifa is... unsure how to start, so she pulls up a crate to sit on and tries to figure out what the plan is.

For a minute, the papers on the table are just a jumble of nonsense lines, until Biggs' finger starts tracing a path through the maze and he's talking about how the delivery entrance lets out just a block over from the main station, topside. Tifa realizes it's a map, charting a route from the Sector 1 train station, into Mako Reactor 1. She reaches over and flips through the stack. There are other sheets, of different levels to the reactor, and another map from the reactor to the Sector 8 station.

The two men have stopped talking, she realizes, and looks up from the plans. "How soon will you go?"

"Couple'a days, maybe," Barret says. "Jessie's got the thing all put together, we're just waiting for them security codes." _The thing_ being Jessie's homemade bomb.

"Do you think we've got enough people?"

Barret shrugs, "I mean, it's not like we're gonna bring in new recruits for something like this."

Tifa chews on her lip for a minute. "Can't we?" She says. Jessie's tapping goes quiet behind her. "Bring someone else in?" Her scalp starts to crawl, being the center of everyone's attention.

"You got someone you're suggesting?"

Biggs looks like he knows the answer, so she keeps her eyes him while she spits it out. "I think we should ask Cloud."

"And who exactly is Cloud?"

"Man, Barret, where have you been?" Jessie pipes up from the corner. "Cloud Strife's that new merc in town. He showed up last week and has been just tearing through the monster jobs."

"He got Betty's stamp of approval," adds Wedge.

"He's also a friend of mine, from my home town. The same home town that ShinRa burned to the ground. He's a really good fighter and I think he could help." Barret's scowl is clearing, and he's starting to look interested, when Biggs has to open his stupid mouth.

"Cloud's a cool guy, but in full disclosure, he's also a SOLDIER."

" _WHAT._ " 

* * *

There is a lot of shouting. A lot. Barret is very much not happy with the idea of allowing a "ShinRa lapdog" to tag along on their mission of eco-terrorism. Tifa counters that Cloud is not actually with SOLDIER anymore, after the company tried to kill him and Zack. "So if it weren't for his buddy, he'd still be with them, huh?"

"His friend getting _shot in the head_ is a _very good reason_ to defect, Barret!"

"What, 'cause his family getting murdered wasn't?" Barret shouts back, "how many years has it been Tifa, and only now he's turning on them?"

That does stop Tifa. "I don't know," she says, back to a normal tone, "but I think... it's not just now. Some of the things Cloud has said, it's weird. I think, whatever happened to him, it wasn't just now. I think Zack and Cloud were running, before, and it was only just now that they got caught. I don't know if _he_ even knows what all happened."

The room is silent for a long moment, then Wedge clears his throat. "Uhh. For what it's worth, we've hung out with Cloud a few times, too. He's a little weird, but even if he doesn't want to join us, I don't think he'd sell us out or anything."

Barret growls, then says, "Fine. Bring him in, let's talk to him. I'm not agreeing. Yet. Bring him in." Tifa lets out a breath of relief and starts towards the elevator. At least the hard part is over. 

* * *

The hard part is not over. Dammit, Cloud. 

"You want me to help you bomb ShinRa. The company that we just got away from." 

"The company that put Zack in a coma, yes," she says. 

"The people who own most of the world and definitely will have cameras up in their own reactor." 

"The people who are sucking the lifeblood out'a the planet and killing us all!" 

"Who have killed or actively tried to kill everyone we've ever loved." 

Cloud paces the tiny room below 7th Heaven. The tiny secret hideout for a terrorist cell, of which his childhood friend is a member, and is asking him to join. Barret is scowling at him with his arms crossed. Tifa is next to him with her arms akimbo, like Cloud's the unreasonable one. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie are watching from the side like this is a chocobo fight.

"Two thousand gil," he finally answers. 

"What?" Barret snarls. 

"I'm a mercenary. I don't work for free. Two thousand gil for the job." 

"Why you slimy sonafa--" 

"Done." Tifa cuts Barret off. Whatever Cloud is claiming, two thousand is a ridiculously small sum, if he's only in it for money. She moves between the two men, and sticks her hand out at Cloud. "Thank you, Mister Strife, and welcome to AVALANCHE." 

Cloud takes her hand, expression serious, but she can see a grin sitting behind his eyes, "Pleasure doing business with you."


	8. Chapter 8

Jessie actually gets her codes later that evening, so the plan is to strike the next night. She doesn't have time to get an extra ID with Plate clearance for Cloud, but he brushes it off, saying he has an idea about how to get around security.

All that day, then, is spent with anxiety eating a hole in Tifa's stomach, while acting like nothing's changed. She does manage to catch Marle on her way out, and finally gets to talk to her landlady about possibly taking on a couple of strays.

"You know that room's only got one bed, like yours," Marle points out.

Tifa nods, "They're sharing one bed now. I don't think it'll be a problem."

With that settled, Tifa takes herself to the bar, then to Beginners Hall and the room upstairs, where Cloud is already awake and getting dressed.

One of the first things Cloud bought with his new income was clothing, so the oversized outfit has sadly been returned to the Watch's supplies. Zack is now dressed in a soft t-shirt, blankets folded down to his waist. The last bandages have been removed, revealing a shiny new scar that stretches from the hairline over his left eye, straight back to the crown of his head, and a valley of cropped hair dividing the mountains of black spikes. 

"How's he doing?" Tifa asks. 

Cloud is seated on the edge of the bed, bent over to zip up his boots. "He's lost some muscle mass, but Bell says he's probably still healthier than he was before the fight." He leans up, elbows on knees, turns his head to the man in question. "She also says he's as healed as he's going to get while lying in a bed. He can wake up any time now." 

"Then that's all the more reason to come back safe, right?" 

"Hey, it was your idea for me to go. Besides, it's not like this is my first mission, you know. Not even the most dangerous, in fact." 

"Oh yeah? What's more dangerous than bombing ShinRa?" Cloud never talks about his time in SOLDIER, Tifa's not passing this up. 

"Well there was this one mission with G--" he breaks off with a hiss, hand clutching his temple. 

"Cloud!" Tifa crouches down, hand on his shoulder. It's only a second, then Cloud is shaking his head like he's shedding something. "Are you okay?" 

He grunts, "Yeah, just a headache. I'm fine. Happens sometimes." 

"If you say so. Maybe talk to Bell about it." Cloud just shrugs, then stands to start buckling on the armor harness. He doesn't seem inclined to continue his story. "Anyway, in addition to breakfast, I came to give you some good news. My landlady is a friend of the cause, and says she can rent you the empty apartment for super cheap. You can even move in today!"

"That's...Thank you, Tifa." So they spend the next part of the morning introducing Cloud to Marle, showing him the room. Cloud remarks that there may only be one bed, but it's still larger than what they've been using. Plus the room at least has a real desk and drawers, sink and water closet. Definitely a step up from using boxes as shelves and going downstairs for facilities. 

After, he leaves the Buster sword in the apartment, and they go back to clear out the room at the Hall. Tifa carries the small pile of spare clothes, while Cloud maneuvers Zack into an awkward piggyback carry. They draw a few looks out on the street, though no one seems alarmed. 

Tifa helps pull out the sheets and then Zack is being carefully settled in his new home, head pillowed on the stack of clothes. Cloud takes a minute to fuss, rearranging limbs and pulling up blankets then tucking everything neatly. 

"You're staying here tonight, right? Watching Barret's daughter?" 

"Yeah. Her name's Marlene," Tifa says. 

"Could I ask you to come check on Zack while we're gone?" he asks. "It's going to be late when we all get back." 

"Of course! I'll bring him some dinner, too. You just focus on the mission, I'll watch sleeping beauty here." 

* * *

The members of AVALANCHE gather at 7th Heaven just as the sun is peering under the plate, the precious few minutes of actual sunlight before it sinks below the hills surrounding Midgar. 

"Daddy's gonna be out late tonight, honey, but Tifa here is gonna stay with you until I get home, okay?" Barret is saying to Marlene.

Wedge has somehow challenged Cloud to a game of darts, while Jessie and Biggs make an open show of placing bets. Cloud actually seems to be winning. Tifa really wants to give him a hug. 

Then suddenly the last slip of sun is gone, and time's up. Barret loudly calls that they gotta get a move on, Strife stop playing games we're on a schedule here. Like the daylight, Cloud's good mood is shrouded under his mercenary face. 

Tifa does manage a half-second of arms around Cloud's shoulders, and for good measure, gives everyone else quick hugs, too. Before she knows it, the party has shuffled out and the door shuts with one last jingle of the bell. 

She does open the bar that night, for a few hours, but closes early. Marlene helps her by gathering dishes while Tifa puts up chairs, then they both grab brooms and attack the floors from opposite ends of the dining room. 

Once everything is done, Tifa makes Zack food and packs it up. "Okay Marlene, I need to go visit a friend and take him dinner. Do you want to come with me?" 

"Daddy told me to never talk to strangers," Marlene frowns. 

"Well, that is good advice from your dad. The man that we're visiting, though, isn't a stranger, he's a friend. Also, he's been very sick, so you won't even have to talk to him." 

"Okay," the logic seems good enough for a five-year-old. Marlene offers to carry the container as they walk from the bar to the apartment building. "I'm sorry your friend is sick." 

"Thank you, sweetie, so am I. Hopefully he can get better soon." They file up the stairs to the second door. Out of habit Tifa raps once before pushing through and reaching for the light switch, and then Tifa hears Marlene scream behind her as she's spun into the room to land hard against the far wall, face-first. There's a large shape at her back, a hard hand twisting her arm painfully into her spine. 

"Who are you?" A dry voice rasps in her ear. "Where are we?" 

She tries to look back. It's too far to see the man who has her pinned, but in the corner of her eye she can see the bed, sheets rumpled and empty. " _Zack?_ " 

He pushed her into the wall again, repeats his demand, "Who are you?" 

"Tifa! Zack, it's me, Tifa. From Nibelheim!" She tries pushing back again, but it's like trying to push against another brick wall. He does pause, at least, not twisting so hard.

"What?" 

"Tifa. From Nibelheim," she says again, slower. "We're in Midgar, the Sector 7 slums. We found you about two weeks ago, you've been unconscious since. I've been helping Cloud take care of you." 

"Cloud?" Zack's grip loosens enough that Tifa can turn to face him, back against the wall. She doesn't go any farther, though, now that Zack is calming down. "Cloud is awake?" 

Before she can answer, there's a sound from outside, except _sound_ isn't a big enough word. It's a vibration in the air, a rumble in the walls. Like a roll of thunder at the top of Mount Nibel. She moves to the open door, looking out into the hollow cavern formed by Midgar's plates. Zack is a shadow behind her, Marlene hiding behind the open door on the landing.

Then there is a flash and a crack, from the far side of the central Pillar, a glow of green that lights up the whole of the slums for an endless second as the Number 1 Reactor explodes.


	9. Chapter 9

Cloud's head is spinning. In itself, that's nothing new. The last few hours, though - the weird hallucination, the fight with the Scorpion, the _bomb_. Jessie had said that the bomb would be just enough to disable the mako pump and crack the storage tanks, allowing mako to soak back down to the Planet, but Sector 8 is in ruins, burning. The flower girl, who seemed so familiar; he'd never met her, he's sure, but he could feel her name on the tip of his tongue. Finally getting to the train, and the teeth-grinding suspense going through checkpoints, surrounded by civilians.

Now they're back at the station, and all Cloud can think about is getting back to his new apartment, stripping off the armor and the sword, and curling up against Zack and sleeping. 

He's not even really registering the town around him, but he comes up to 7th Heaven on his way to the apartment, and sees Tifa sitting on the steps outside of the bar. Little Marlene is curled up with her head on Tifa's lap, and there's another, larger person sitting on her other side. As Cloud comes closer, the figure stands, and everything in Cloud's head screeches to a halt. 

He's wearing the same soft tee-shirt and drawstring pants that Cloud put on him this morning. The strip of shorn hair around his scar looks kind of silly against his wild mane. His face is about to split, he's grinning so wide. He's the best thing Cloud has ever seen. "Zack." 

"Cloud!" Zack shouts, almost bouncing down the stairs. "You're okay!" Then Cloud gets to the stairs, too, and he's engulfed in a spinning hug that ends with Zack attached to him like a monkey, legs wrapped around Cloud's waist and Cloud's hands supporting his thighs. When they stop, Zack looks surprised. "Um. I didn't expect that to work. Guess I should get used to you being as strong as me."

Cloud just can't help but laugh. And it's possible the laugh is a little hysterical, and maybe he has to set Zack back down on the stairs. He keeps Zack's legs around him, winds his arms around the other man's back, buries his face in the crook of shoulder and neck. If these things are true, it's also possible that Zack is holding him back just as tightly. There might be a bit of a damp patch on someone's shirt, who knows. 

"I was starting to wonder if I'd ever hear that laugh again." Zack mumbles into Cloud's shoulder. 

"I was starting to wonder the same," Cloud admits, "but I'm okay now. We both made it. We're alive, in Midgar. We're going to be mercenaries together, right?" 

"Yeah. You heard that? Yeah, man, you're right. We're gonna be great, now. We're gonna be awesome."


End file.
